Plunger pumps are adapted to rugged, continuous duty pumping of liquids and slurries over a wide range of temperatures. Vertical plunger type pumps provide heavy duty, high pressure service, improved reliability, and less costly maintenance. The vertical design also occupies less floor space and therefore requires less costly foundations than other pump types. These attributes make this pump design ideal for energy related technologies such as coal liquification and gasification, mineral and coal pipelines.
Packing material is provided in plunger pumps to act as a seal between the plunger and the cylinder in which it reciprocates. No packing material or style is fully satisfactory in a high temperature, continuous duty application. To improve the packing material service life, the temperature of the packing environment must be lowered.
Conversely, there are service conditions which require that the temperature of the packing environment be raised. Raising the packing environment temperature is desirable where the viscosity of the fluid being pumped is too high at ambient temperatures.
One way of lowering or raising the packing environment temperature is to cool or heat the plunger or piston which is in proximity to the packing. Methods of plunger cooling are known, but they rely on external or auxiliary coolant supply or flexible hoses, and require frequent maintenance.